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Stop wasting your time going to a traditional college. Take a few years off, travel (which I did) and then immediately enroll in maritime college (which i didn't but desperately want to do now). I'd be making 200k a year running a tanker by now instead of the dinky little boats i'm driving. Also, I'd tell myself to drink and eat less and exercise more. I've kind of learned my lessons now, but it took me too damn long. I could be 10 years ahead of where I am now, if I had actually known what it was I wanted to do for a career when I was 18 like some lucky bastards.
1. Go live with your grandparents. They'll be better parents to you than your own.
2. Choose the public high school with the performing arts program that you told your parents about although they ignored you and said 'no.' Avoid that horrible Catholic high school that your parents want to send you to instead that you hate.
High School:
1. Go to the performing arts public high school.
Pre-college:
1. Work all through high school at a part time job so you can save for your move abroad to the UK for college like you always wanted.
College:
1. Hide your passport before you tell your parents the news: you got accepted to that college in the UK, and you're going. (But tell them from the airport so they can't stop you from leaving your own house...if your grandparents didn't let you live with them because if they did, you wouldn't have to hide that great news or sneak out of their house).
2. Go into journalism and minor in theater. It's what you wanted to do. Not English Literature.
3. Go abroad to college (I'm redundant to my past self, which won't surprise me) because you have dual citizenship and won't have to pay for your school like you do in the U.S. i.e It's cheaper!
3.a. And STAY THERE. Don't move back to the U.S. You can live in the UK because you have family over there too.
Career:
1. Work as a broadcast AND print journalist. Write a few books. Write a few plays. Publish your poetry and short stories. You're not dead yet. Oh, and stay in the U.K.
Last edited by Midwest Maven; 01-24-2013 at 09:05 PM..
Knowing what you know now based on your own experiences..
About college, or employment choices? what would you tell your younger self
To save every penny ever earned from any job as a teen, no matter how odd it was, (No, really, you CAN live without "The Clash" album...it will be available on internet anyway...just wait for it), and to go right on ahead and follow that dream of yours no matter how many people tell you, "You'll never make it".
Stop spending summers working at a run down dollar store, sitting on the window sil eating your Easy-Mac, and go get some internships or do some volunteer work for God's Sake!
Have fun but stop spending every dime you make. Learn to save a portion of everything that comes in.
Go to college as your parents are trying to tell you. The world is a tougher place every day. Jobs that used to require high school now require college. Study hard and do well. It's not just about the good grades, but learning how to get them. That will help you meet other goals later on.
Go easy on the alcohol. Enjoy yourself but don't be a fool. Preferably, stay away from any drugs.
Get the best job you can find and do it as well as you can. Take some headaches off the boss, solve some long standing problem, etc. Make a good name for yourself. Invest in your work if you need to. Books, computer programs, etc. that help you in your work are to your benefit.
Watch the lifestyle. Wait a few years for the $100,000 car & $250,000 home. You can get something nice for a lot less. Learn to invest $ wisely & invest the difference each month. Learn good cooking at home. Keep expensive restaurant meals to a minimum or special occasions. Still, easy on the alcohol. A small bar at home is much cheaper than going out several nights a week. When you do go out to drink, take a cab. Don't chance driving. You do not need and cannot afford a DWI.
Keep in shape. Walk or run each day. Get a set of weights for home. Don't join a gym unless you can really stick to going in on a regular basis. Live in an apt complex with a pool if possible & swim a lot.
Read all you can. Reading is learning and good for your mind. Join a book club and meet others with your interests. Choose your friends carefully. Avoid people who are unstable, who generate trouble among their family or friends. They drag people down.
Stay in touch with your parents. Do all you can for them as they grow older. Keep in touch with other family, make all the gatherings you can. Your family are the roots that helped you start out. (If your family is/was a destructive one, stay away from them and stay on track to do better with your own family.)
Be part of your community. Small town? Join the volunteer fire dept or rescue squad. Large town? Mentor some kids without solid families behind them. Coach a sports team.
Last edited by jmellc; 01-25-2013 at 08:27 AM..
Reason: Spelling
- Don't let your mother's nervous breakdown keep you from going to college far away.
- Don't get hung up on being such a faithful, loyal employee and stop putting employers' needs first; they will never, ever return that behavior.
- GET MATH TUTORS! Report your 7th, 8th, and 9th grade math teachers to the proper authorities for being chair-throwers, screamers, kid-tossing, wooden pointer-beaters and all around snarky social misfits WHO CAN'T TEACH. You will need a better math foundation in life!!
- Come out of that introverted shell tout de suite, you'll need a fake persona for real life. (it has only been developed recently)
Pay more attention in HS as you are smart
Don't start dancing and if you do, put that money away instead of blowing it on stupid shyt
Go to law school
Take up rich ex's financial offers
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,456,964 times
Reputation: 6670
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafo1981
Stop wasting your time going to a traditional college. Take a few years off, travel (which I did) and then immediately enroll in maritime college (which i didn't but desperately want to do now). I'd be making 200k a year running a tanker by now instead of the dinky little boats i'm driving. Also, I'd tell myself to drink and eat less and exercise more. I've kind of learned my lessons now, but it took me too damn long. I could be 10 years ahead of where I am now, if I had actually known what it was I wanted to do for a career when I was 18 like some lucky bastards.
I hear 'ya, but would also add this one... it's never too late!
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